What She Wants
by Warlordess
Summary: As Delia Ketchum reaches the milestone that is her fiftieth birthday, she invites her son over to discuss with her the one thing he's never been able to give her.
1. His Side

**Disclaimer** - It's a _really _good thing I don't own anything because it's taken me over two years to post a new fic! Can you imagine if this were the anime we were talking about?

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes** - Uh, hi guys! Guess who's back? Back again? Chibi's back! Tell a-((_shot_)). . . Okay, okay; I get it already! But it feels so good to write something for the first time in so long! And a new fic! Agh, it's been years! That's not even an exaggeration! Where has the time gone?! Rants, raves, and obsessions aside, I just wanted to extend a quick thanks to anyone who decided to give this new ficcy a chance. I hope you like!

Also, to **poka**, see? I told you I'd make sure I had this up before the end of the weekend!

**O**o**O**

**Title** - "What She Wants"

**Summary **- As Delia Ketchum reaches the milestone that is her fiftieth birthday, she invites her son over to discuss with her the one thing he's never been able to give her.

**Characters **/ **Ages** -

Delia / 50

Ash / 23

**O**o**O**o**O**

The table glowed with the soft white of her freshly pressed tablecloth, the silverware immaculately placed alongside the porcelain china. Fluffy eggs and crispy toast sat perched before her and her guest that morning, as well as sizzling sausage just pulled from her favorite frying pan.

Everything could not have been more perfect.

"Ash, honey, would you like some tea?" Delia asked with her brightest smile.

Some would tell her that she'd clearly gone overboard with the extravagancies of the meal. Knowing it would be the first time in months that she'd be seeing her son, she had pulled out all the stops, even going so far as to have a plethora of leftovers available should Ash want them.

Well, the boy had always had the appetite of a Snorlax, hadn't he? Even growing up, he'd easily managed to down seconds and thirds of her cooking before even remotely breaking his stride.

"Oh, uh, sure; thanks, mom," Ash nodded almost bashfully.

It had been bad enough holding back his overly-affectionate mother when he brought his friends over between journeys to different regions around the world when he was younger. . . but it was almost unimaginably worse now that he was twenty-three years old.

He gave her the benefit of the doubt though. After all, the Indigo League had kept him busy over the past year since his inauguration as Kanto's third-division champion.

That's right. . . It had been a long time coming but twelve years down the road, Ash Ketchum had finally achieved some semblance of his dream. And what had waited for him after that small victory was not entirely what he'd expected. Instead of continuing to travel and strengthen his team full-time, he'd been set up with some cozy living quarters at the League base at Indigo Plateau where, once a year, he would be challenged by those Pokemon trainers who had broken the threshold of the competition in the championship finals.

He wasn't so sure about signing on with Indigo at first, obviously realizing that he'd be losing the freedom he'd been allowed by being only a licensed trainer trying to attain the respect and knowledge that battling for badges gave him. But by law, the only way to challenge others for the Pokemon Master title was to rank divisional champion for five consecutive years. Only then would the leagues across the world unify and host the World Master Cup.

It was a relatively closed circuit from here on out when it came to Ash's dream. . . but he still wouldn't give up.

In the meantime, he could travel short-term, though it required him to participate in local interviews and events. It wasn't everything, wasn't even much, but he'd take it.

And if time and business allowed him, he would sneak away to his small vacation home off of Route Five just North of Saffron City.

That was in fact where his mother had found him only two days ago. All it had taken was one call from Ash's handler at League HQ begging she get her son to stop disappearing on them without proper notice just because he was getting a little hot under the collar and she had immediately hung up and in turn dialed Ash's private cell-phone number.

His vacation home and his private cell-phone. The only two things he had managed to keep to himself over the past three or so years. There were no other secrets.

"Pika. . . chaaa. . ." his best friend exclaimed contentedly from his lap as his trainer rubbed at the base of his long ears.

Even Pikachu had not escaped the media onslaught that followed Ash's initial victory at the Pokemon League. Instead the electric mouse was now the non-spokes-model for young trainers. . . Well, at least according to all the posters and news ads plastered so frequently on every other channel.

Delia sighed rather despondently at the circus that was her son's life now-a-days.

"Mom, what's up? Is something wrong?" Ash asked with concern.

"Oh, it's nothing too much," and the woman smiled as she took in his completely empty plate. She had been so busy reminiscing that she hadn't even noticed he was done eating. "Would you like some more, honey?" And she gestured at the platters she'd carefully prepared extra of just for him.

"Sure!" he responded enthusiastically and leapt up to grab some. In turn, Pikachu was thrown off of him and landed upright on the ground.

A little wary, the electric mouse waved his tail admonishingly at his trainer before wandering off to nap in the living room.

Delia watched the Pokemon go but faced her son again as he let out a snort of laughter.

"What is it?" she asked him then.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that if Misty was here, she'd be calling me a pig right now," he told her as he let her get a look at the two-point-five inch tall stack of sausage and eggs on his place. "But I can't help it! I mean, I haven't had a really good home-cooked meal in so long!"

"Well, honey," his mother said to him after the blank blinking stare had faded away, "Misty would probably only say those kinds of things because she cares. I hope you know that."

"Oh, I do," Ash affirmed calmly between heaping bites of food.

Delia was impressed by her son's level of faith and confidence in the relationship he had with the Cerulean City native.

Misty. Now _there _was a name she hadn't heard in awhile. And why should she? The girl hadn't traveled with Ash since he was thirteen years old. And yes, they had been close, but Ash had been just as close to any of his other friends, hadn't he?

Delia sighed again. Ash had had so very many friends. That was part of the problem, she supposed.

"Mom?" Ash inquired once more at her rather obviously display of despondence.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said with a distracting giggle and a wave of her arm.

"So. . . what was it that you wanted to talk about anyway? It sounded like a pretty big deal over the phone a couple of days ago," her son faltered there and took in the sight of her sharp and sudden change in impression.

She clearly had a purpose with him.

"Ash, you know that I love you. . . You do, right?" She waited for him to answer before going on.

"Uh, yeah. . . Of course. I mean, I love you too. . ." he stuttered confusedly with a furrowed brow. Nevertheless Delia couldn't help nudging him on.

"But not enough to come and visit your mother in almost an entire year, is that right?" And she sipped smoothly at her tea as she watched her son's arms go slightly limp, even as he was attempting to ladle more eggs onto his plate.

He fell back into his seat with his jaw hanging open.

"It's not like that! I've been really busy, you know! I wanted to come see you too! I just couldn't find the time! The league has had me on such a tight leash and, well. . . to tell the truth. . . there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about anyway."

One of his hands swept to the back of his neck as his face colored just a tad. He was interrupted by the faint buzzing of his cell-phone vibrating in his pocket and quickly pulled it out.

"Ah. . . not important. . ." he murmured even as the flush grew brighter and he rejected the call with a swipe of his thumb on the screen. His phone in turn blacked out and he set it on the table before giving his mom his undivided attention.

"So, uh, what's all this about?" he finally asked and braced himself for whatever she was planning to throw at him.

"Honey, well. . . let me start by saying that I at least partially blame myself for this."

"F - for. . . what, exactly?"

"You were always my pride and joy when you were growing up, I hope you know. You made every day worthwhile and. . . But perhaps because of that, I know I let you get away with too much."

"What do you mean?" Ash gulped with a furrowed brow.

"Little things like your diet. Even now, I still let you eat whatever and however much you want. But there are also some bigger things. . . For instance, I let my precious little boy leave home at the age of ten years to pursue what could be the most obscure and unending goal in the history of the world."

Ash stared soundly at his mother and waited for her to go on. There had to be more than that, right? She wasn't just going to keep reiterating how much loneliness she'd suffered through while he was gone, was she?

"And yes, I did miss you. . ." Or perhaps those really _were _her intentions, ". . . but more than that, there were a select few things I never had the time to teach you before you went. I regret not properly leading you down the most potential path to adulthood there was to offer you."

"Mom. . ." Ash murmured though not through melancholy. Instead he felt slightly exasperated that he had to remind her of something she herself had just said. "I was only ten years old! Becoming an adult was the last thing on my mind!"

"But now you're twenty-three years old and I'm fifty. Ash, I-"

"-Is this about you climbing over the hill?" he asked rashly, doing as he did best and barreling his way through any sensitive topic that he happened to approach.

Delia looked slightly affronted but shook it off in lieu of pursuing their discussion further.

"A little bit, Ash, yes. But this is also about _your _life right now!"

The two of them were interrupted by his cell, still sitting beside him on the table, as it began vibrating again. Ash quickly scanned the name that appeared before sighing and choosing to screen the call again.

Delia thought about letting him answer but knew he would just use it as an excuse to run from their talk. It was probably his handler in any case, who was probably in a mild state of panic over Ash's prolonged absence.

"So what is it that you think I'm lacking at twenty-three years old?" he asked her after his phone quieted down.

"Well, you never learned to cook, for one. Honestly, honey, if not for friends like Brock, I'm sure you would have spent your entire youth surviving on instant ramen!"

"Okay, got'cha. I'll learn how to cook. What else?"

"There's always emergency medical treatment. Do you realize how many nightmares I had of you falling, drowning, freezing to death?"

Ash opened his mouth initially to tell her that he'd repeatedly survived _all _off those conditions but immediately thought better of it.

Instead, he said, "Okay, I'll get on that as soon as I get back to League HQ. Anything else?"

"Drinking."

"Eh? I barely drink! And I never did it before I turned of age!"

"What about drugs?"

"Never tried 'em. Doesn't sound like they have any real benefits."

"Well, what about se-," but Delia stuttered to a falter as she considered her baby boy's innocent, fawn-like ears. She assumed she had better approach the topic of sex more cautiously.

"Uh. . . what was that last one?" Ash asked in mild, unknowledgeable confusion.

"I. . ." Delia allowed her mind to reel as it quickly found a way around the direct broaching of the subject. "I. . . never taught you what it means to find a girl pretty."

"Uh, what do you mean, _what it means_?" Ash narrowed his eyes in scrutinization of those words. He didn't waste time denying that he _had _at some point - er, what was it? - found particular girls pretty. Maybe at age fourteen when his stubbornness and nerves had gotten the better of him, but now that he was an adult, he supposed he should take responsibility for those feelings.

By far the craziest thing, though, was that Ash could tell that this was the pressing matter his mom had needed to discuss with him by the way her facial features tightened and her spine straightened as she kneeled forward on the edge of her seat, anticipation clear in her eyes as she stared him down.

"Uh. . ." his voice cracked and his internal body temperature increased by roughly a hundred degrees. "Why would you. . . I mean, why talk about it now? And why would you blame yourself for that?"

"Ash, you've accomplished many things since you first left home. I do realize at ten years old that the opposite gender was probably a foreign concept to you then but I'd. . . I'd hoped that as time wore on and you continued to meet more girls, that they'd start to appeal to you both emotionally as well as physically."

"Both. . . _physically_?!" Ash yelped suddenly in understanding. Were the two of them actually talking about-

"And yes, Ash, you are many things but a Casanova has never been one of them." Delia went on knowingly. "I should have talked to you about these things years ago but there hardly seemed to be a time for it. Now, though, well. . . there hasn't been even one rumor about you consorting with a woman!" she finished with a hand placed melodramatically against her own forehead.

And she was right. For all of the time Ash had spent at Indigo League, for all twelve-hundred days he'd become practically a household name, for all the paparazzi he'd had sniffing around him the entire time, there had never been one juicy story about an affair with a significant other.

Ash took in his mom's woe-is-me expression and mulled what she'd said to him over in his mind. . . but as the seconds wore on, he felt confusion and curiosity begin to well up over the woman's grievance.

"Uh. . . I'm not sure but. . . I mean, I still don't get what the big deal is. I mean, who cares if I'm dating?"

His mother stared imploringly at him before deciding that she should properly explain herself.

"Ash, you've given me many wonderful things over the years but there's. . . there's still one thing I've always wanted that you've never been able to provide me with."

It was Ash's turn to stare at her again. If he were being honest, he couldn't _remember_ a time when his mom had asked anything of him. She had always given support and allowed him all opportunities and, no matter her concern or fear, she'd never forced him to drop any goal or task in order to alleviate her own burdens.

It was that thought alone that had Ash perched on edge with bated breath, more than willing to give his mom whatever she wanted.

"What? What do you need?" he asked even as he internally considered the possibilities. As she had previously stated, they'd barely seen each other in the past year and the phone-calls were just as rare. Or maybe she was going to ask for some financial assistance.

Of course, none of those things seemed to pertain to her rather sudden interest in his sex life.

"Grandchildren."

Ash avoided the oncoming face-fault-slash-fainting-spell by gripping the corner of the dining table with one hand and using the other to support the bulk of his weight from the seat of the chair he was currently sitting in.

But nothing could quell the emotional hurricane threatening to sweep him permanently undertow.

He propped open his mouth to respond to such an exclamation but the words died in his throat, or perhaps they refused to come aid him, rather deciding they'd do well to abandon him where he was.

His phone, still sitting beside him on the table, lit up and began to vibrate once more. Delia was just thinking about how willing she'd be to bet money that it was the same person her son had been dodging all morning but didn't get the chance as he promptly let out a rather frustrated sounding gurgle, swiping his thumb across the screen to reject the call for the third time, and as a final nail in the coffin, proceeded to turn the phone off.

Delia, for her part, was rather impressed. She was sure her son would have taken the opportunity to run, fake some sort of emergency and fly out the door at breakneck speed. . . She had to give him some credit for the way he'd resolved to stick it out. (It was more like he hadn't even thought of that idea.)

"So. . . um. . . I. . ." Though he was still having trouble forming full sentences. "Why?"

"Ash, you don't realize how quiet it's been around here since you left home! Your father and I had dreamed about filling this house with children when we were younger, though due to his passing. . ." She paused for a moment as the two of them reminisced fondly in memory of the former Mr. Ketchum, ". . . I put such a thing on hold. I mean, I had my hands full with you alone, especially after you started fighting with Gary."

Ash grinned sheepishly despite the inevitable compulsion he was feeling to flee the room and never look back. When they'd been kids, he and Gary had often scrapped together in the back yard, so much so that the two had been indefinitely separated. Then, as the two of them had approached their tenth birthdays and begun studying for their trainer licensing exams, they'd realized that there was a smarter way to do things and had decided to rely on their scores and skills to tell them who the best was between them.

"And, to be frank, I didn't really have the heart for it at the time," his mom went on to say as if she'd never stopped talking, and Ash snapped awake from his reverie.

"Still, honey, this house was meant to be filled with family. And, for a long time, I had thought I could just leave it alone and that you'd eventually come around on your own. However now I see that you're still only interested in your career as a Pokemon trainer."

Ash silently noted the disappointment laced in her tone but choice not to take it personally. She wasn't disappointed in _him_, he knew, only disappointed in a few of the life choices she presumed he'd made over the years.

"So I was hoping that we could get a little more in-depth on this topic."

"A little more. . . ?" Ash repeated almost timidly, "What do you mean by that?"

"Your friend, May. . . You know, she still calls the house asking about you quite often," and Delia grinned suggestively at her son before standing and reaching for the tea kettle, and then some honey to go with her refill.

She regained her seat and subletly stirred her hot tea with her spoon, purposely avoiding her son's wide-eyed gaze.

"As I seem to recall it, the two of you got along quite well. She's trying to remain in contact with you even after all these years. Don't you think there might be some hidden meaning?" she asked, finally readjusting her gaze to meet his once more.

"Uh. . . no, mom, I don't really. . . I mean, we do actually talk occasionally, though I guess it has been a fair few months now that I think about it. . . Still, I know she's not keeping anything like that from me." Then, knowing that this might have been the opportunity he was waiting for, he opened his mouth again, "But now that you mention it, there is-"

Sensing his next statement would have nothing to do with his secret love affair with the burgundy-haired girl from Hoenn, Delia held up her hand to silence him before going on.

"Well, what about that other girl, Dawn? She was so polite and easy-going, so charismatic! She'd be just what you need to help cope with your busy schedule. Have you two been keeping in touch at all?" she implored.

Ash refused to tell her that indeed they had - in a completely platonic sense - if only because of one certain fact.

"She's, like, five years younger than me, mom!"

Not to mention, as she'd told him last year sometime, she'd somehow blackmailed Paul into asking her out. Ash couldn't help remembering how mind-blown he'd been by _that _development.

"Age is only a number, honey," his mom reminded him as she poised an index finger upward. Then she softened up and unleashed a despondent sigh. "But that's what I've been trying to tell you for so long, Ash. If you can understand what it's like to love somebody and have it reciprocated, nothing else should really matter, should it?"

The raven-haired champion felt the tension in his own muscles ease up in response.

"No. . . I guess you're right," he agreed.

The two of them sat in contemplated silence for the next few minutes, perhaps mulling over their shared opinion about potential life partners, until finally, Delia just had to ruin it.

"Besides, Ash, it will be much easier to have sex with someone you can honestly love so whole-heartedly!"

"Mom!" he admonished as his entire face burned scarlet.

"If you need help finding someone, you can tell me. I'd be more than willing to help get the ball rolling."

"I don't need any help, I can promise you!" he yelped in terror at the very thought. However saying so only seemed to escalate his mom's flights of fancy.

"Oh, is that so?" she lamented, tapping her chin in wonder. Ash was crazy enough to think that the woman would actually back down after his egoistic remark. . . however he was quite wrong. "I can't see how that's possible though, you know? Unless. . ."

"U - unless what?" he had just enough courage to ask. Doing so may have been his grandest mistake.

"You have no interest in women," she said, and he thought she'd forgotten that she'd already said much the same thing at the start of this particular conversation. Then he realized that she wasn't finished speaking, "because you're interested in men instead."

"Wha. . ." The young man gulped, eyes wide and mouth going dry as cotton seemed to fill up his throat. He was pretty sure he was going to lose consciousness from all the difficulty he was having breathing and he felt his chest start to tingle even as his fingers went numb from clenching his fists so tight. And still he couldn't find or form the words it would take to save his own soul (not to mention his dignity).

"Well, it does explain a lot, doesn't it?" she whispered to nobody in particular as she went off on her own tangent. Ash watched as her shoulders slumped and her gaze cast down to the table and she tried to come to terms with the information she'd just gathered.

She then drew in a sharp breath and placed her mug half-filled with not-quite-hot-tea down, a resounding _thump_ drawing attention before she held her head high once more.

"Oh, but don't be silly, Ash," she had the strength still to tell her son, "I would accept you unconditionally no matter what. You'll always be my joy, my one and only son, and I could never stop loving you. . ."

The raven-haired champion noticed that the more his mom tried to push herself through her speech, the more her face flushed and her eyes watered.

"It's just. . ." And the poor boy knew what was coming before it did, ". . . now I'll never have grandchildren!" she practically wailed in despair.

Ash had finally decided to give in and let the woman weep until she'd calmed down on her own, especially since he hadn't been able to get even one word in to convince her that she had been severely misinformed on the matter. Besides, he knew from experience that the worst thing a guy could do was give a woman just the right amount of ammunition to slaughter context with.

Loss of his own masculinity aside, even he wasn't stupid enough to pursue the topic any further just yet.

Delia gasped for breath and took a few sips of her tea and the minutes continued to drag on. Sometime later, she let out a few final sniffles and wiped the rest of her semi-Totodile tears away.

Gathering the reserves of his strength, Ash had just propped open his mouth to finally tell her what was what when the house phone started ringing from the other room.

"Oh, uh, I guess I'll get it," the raven-haired Pokemon champion said as he cautiously stood up to go answer the phone even as his mom refused to move.

"Don't be silly, Ash; Mimey will get it!" Delia waved a hand as if to assure him it was fine and he sat down once more.

True to his position as Delia's assistant-slash-housekeeper, Mimey could be heard crying his own name as he gallivanted down the stairs and straight for the phone as if his life was on the line (pun intended).

There was a momentary pause in conversation as they waited for the Pokemon to finish taking a message or else for him to call Delia over if it was something important. Finally deciding to take the chance, Ash pushed away his plate to indicate that he was finished with his breakfast.

"You know mom, about the, uh. . . the grandkids-thing. I mean, I - I'm not sure that I'm ready for that kind of responsibility but, backing up a bit, there was something. . . I was planning to tell you when I saw you today. . ." the young man continued to fumble over his words until his voice decided to run from him at the end for the umpteenth time.

Unfortunately for him, he was interrupted _again_ before he could draw it back in anyway.

"Mime. . . Mime. . . ! Mime!" Mimey screeched as he flew into the room at lightning speed and straight at Ash, practically careening into the poor guy and sporting a strange expression brimming with both panic and aggression. "Mime, mime Mr. Mime!" he went on, flailing his arms about wildly as if to ensure he'd gotten the young man's attention.

"I think the call must be for you, Ash," his mom said with a soft smile, "Don't worry, it's not like you can't tell me what you were trying to say afterwards."

Ash's exasperation clearly evident on his face, he rose from his seat anyway and dodged Mimey's continued harassment so that he could go see who had called his mom's house just to reach _him_ and what they wanted.

There was roughly two minutes of hurried and hushed discussion from the living room landline during which Delia decided she'd like to top off her tea so that it would be a little warmer and Mimey returned to whatever chore he'd been managing on the second floor, and when her son finally _did_ amble back into the room, a new stunned look had appeared on his face, overtaking the expression he'd been wearing previously.

"Ash?" Delia asked but he ignored her, silently stepping around to claim his seat again and picking up his cell-phone, pressing the power-slash-lock key on the side and holding it until the screen flickered on and the OS started to load.

"Honey?" the woman pressed onward with concern, leaning forward and watching as the young man took his free hand and swept it anxiously from his chin to his mouth and up along his brow until it ruffled through his hair.

After his phone had finished loading, she watched from the distance between them as he continued to check whatever it was that had affected him so. And, finally, he relocked the device and dropped it haphazardly on the table with a shuddering sigh and drooped further down in his seat (if that were even possible).

"What's wrong?" his mom asked quizzically. He jumped and looked at her as if he hadn't noticed her before, which only hardened her resolve. There wasn't much out there that could put her son in such a shaken frame of mind after all. "For goodness sake, honey, what happened? Who was that on the phone?"

"I, um," the young man croaked but apparently had to stop right after to further collect himself, "I guess I should tell you. It's. . . going to affect you anyway."

Delia raised a sharp eyebrow but otherwise remained silent and let her son work out what he needed to say.

"Actually, I suppose I should start with what I'd intended to tell you today."

"What you'd. . . Oh, go on."

"Mom, I've been seeing someone for about a year. Uh, it's. . . it's Misty, if, uh. . . that's alright with you," the raven-haired champion attempted to explain and he watched as the woman's expression grew undecipherable under the myriad of emotions that this confession compelled from her.

"Oh, but that's. . . that's _great_! Ash, how could you be crazy enough to keep this from your mother?" she crooned after breaking into a grin, "Did you really think I wouldn't approve or something? Oh-ho, how could I not have noticed?" she finished emphatically as she felt the wheels turning in her own head.

Ash's private hide-away home, which sat off of Route Five, North of Saffron City. . . and just South of Cerulean. Ash claiming not that he hadn't had a home-cooked meal in so long, but that he hadn't had a _good_ home-cooked meal. . . and Misty, who's cooking skills were so notoriously infamous that even Delia had heard the stories. And then, finally. . .

The undeniable, unshakeable faith Ash seemed to have in his relationship with his old friend, Misty, who the Ketchum matriarch had previously assumed he hadn't seen in at least a few years.

Honestly, Delia was currently so tickled pink she thought she might swoon.

"And you love her, don't you?" she begged of her son and waited for his bashful nod of affirmation before she let the tizzy tune in her head take her over completely. She felt so content at her son's confirmed sexuality that she had apparently forgotten that he wasn't finished speaking.

"But. . . uh, there's something else, mom."

"Oh, and what is that?" Though the woman was pretty sure nothing could top her elation at the thought of her son being in a serious relationship with a girl who came from a large family, which usually indicated the outcome of further offspring.

"Well, Myst was feeling a little under the weather a couple days ago so she went to see her doctor and she. . . she found out the results of the exam today." Ash paused as he drank in his mom's concerned gaze. "And it turns out she's pregnant."

Delia felt the time-bomb in her head take that statement as its opportunity to detonate. Eyes wide and hands trembling as she leaned over to pour herself another cup of tea, finishing off what was left in the kettle, she inhaled deeply to try and quell the knotting in her own heart.

"Pregnant," she repeated. It wasn't a question.

"Six weeks along, actually."

The two of them sat in stark silence, staring each other down with mutual stern expressions. Delia could see the fear and apprehension in her son's body language as he mourned this all-too-sudden change in his life. To buy time, she stood up and began to clear the table of the breakfast platters he had made vanish over the course of the past two hours.

She told herself that the reason for her shaking grip on her dishware as she lowered it all carefully into her sink was due to her concern that her little Ashy-boy might have trouble coping with and handling the news. Or else maybe it was because she was upset at her son for keeping his relationship with Misty from her for so long. . . or - as an over-protective mother - she was in disbelief over the fact that he had been having sex all along without (what Delia would consider to be) a long-term commitment.

But no, none of those explanations did it for her. She knew why her nerves were shot and she couldn't hold herself up on her own legs for much longer.

Jeezus, she was _that _excited?

Quickly rinsing everything off and leaving it all in the sink for a more thorough wash later, the woman turned and went back to the dining room table to join her comatose son. She couldn't abandon him now!

"Ash, honey, are you alright?"

He gave a half-hearted, disgruntled groan but otherwise made no inclination that he'd understood her attempts at communication.

"Do you need anything?" she prodded softly.

She got a non-committal shrug in return and then, roughly thirty seconds later, a more resolute shake of the head.

"Do you think you need to talk about what this means for the two of you?"

Another shake of the head. Followed by Ash ruffling a hand through his hair again as he tried to catch his breath. Then he spoke.

"I just need a few minutes to come t - to terms," he gulped anxiously, grabbing his phone again and unlocking it, staring blankly at his home-screen. It was then that the device chose to vibrate in his hands and he pressed the key that would open his text message inbox.

Whatever he saw made his mouth twitch into what looked like the beginnings of a smile but he soon bit his bottom lip again and dropped the phone back onto the table as recklessly as he had the previous time.

"Ash," Delia tried by means of a different approach, "I'm sure you'll make a wonderful father."

"No, I - I know that," he responded jumpily, "I think. But I don't really want to talk about this right now. I just. . . need a day to wrap my mind around it, maybe talk to Misty first before anyone else. No offense, mom," he added sharply, realizing it sounded like he was shutting her out. "Can we change the subject instead?"

"Oh, absolutely! I completely understand!" She would just have to make sure to stay in the loop from now on, she supposed.

Then, with as little tact as her own son possessed - (making it curious as to whether or not the trait really was hereditary) - she asked the only other question that mattered to her at the moment.

"So, honey, how do you feel about marriage?"

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes - **Yay, it's finally complete! Or is it. . . ? As I was finishing this up, I had been thinking about how the entire situation seemed one-sided. I kinda felt like I wanted to write Misty's reaction to everything that was happening on her end as well as her failed attempts to reach Ash and how frustrated and fearful it probably made her to go through two hours alone knowing what she did. I especially wanted to acknowledge what her last text message was to Ash since it seemed to reassure him, at least a little bit.

I'm not sure if I actually _will _write that but if you think it sounds interesting then let me know, eh?

On one final note, has anyone _else _noticed just how impossible it is to claim a Pokemon Master title in the anime? In the games, it's so easy; earn badges, beat Elite Four, become champion/Pokemon Master. But in the anime, since the omniverse includes all Leagues in one world (rather than one League per region and one region per game with no reference to any other regions in aforementioned games, minus GSC/HG/SS), there is no Elite Four in any region, and any League championship involves battling only other trainers who have obtained their eight badges. That being said, even if you get first place amongst your adversaries, you can't possibly be guaranteed the title of Pokemon Master when there are so many other Leagues out there with just as many other champion trainers!

Luckily, I decided I wanted to find a solution to this, which was partially introduced in the fic if you were reading carefully. I can explain it to anyone who's curious. Just let me know in your review if you'd like me to tell you more of what I decided would be a fair way of judging who makes the Pokemon Master title, and if you're an anonymous reviewer, remember to leave your email if you want me to get back to you! Other than that, I'll just remain content that I finally figured something out because, honestly, the whole thing has been bugging me for quite some time.

Btw, see? I'm _not _dead!


	2. Her Side

**Disclaimer **- It's a _really _good thing I don't own anything because it's taken me over two years to post a new fic! Can you imagine if this were the anime we were talking about?

**Author **- Chibi / Warlordess

**Notes **- Oh, boy. . . You guys asked for it and I gave in to the temptation and decided to write it. I can't believe I got this all out in one day. And the worst part was that, when I finished, I decided I actually wanted to write a _third _chapter to wrap it up in a nice, neat bow by concluding things with Ash and Misty talking it all out. Well, maybe I will and maybe I won't. . . Why don't you all tell me what you think after you finish reading this chapter?

Oh, completely off topic but I have posted a new poll on my profile and have been hoping for response though I haven't received even _one_ vote since putting it together. If possible and you find yourself interested in the fic the poll is about, could you guys give me your opinions?

**O**o**O**

**Title **- "What She Wants" / part two

**Summary** - As Delia Ketchum reaches the milestone that is her fiftieth birthday, she invites her son over to discuss with her the one thing he's never been able to give her.

**Characters **/ **Ages **-

Delia / 50

Ash / 23

Misty / 24

**O**o**O**o**O**

The young redhead couldn't help expelling a shuddering sigh after breathing deeply through her nose. Her attempts at remaining calm after finding out that her fears - not quite her worst, but _still _- had come to pass. . . Her doctor had already handed over the page from her file that told her the results of the urine and blood tests she'd taken the previous week because the female patient couldn't seem to entirely wrap her head around them even though she'd been highly suspecting of the conclusion since she'd first noticed the symptoms she'd been feeling.

Flashback to the week before and she had been sleeping cozily with her boyfriend and lover, Ash Ketchum, in his home away from home that only a few precious people knew about off of the beaten path of Route Five outside of Saffron City. It was almost two hours of walking from her own hometown but it was well worth it since the two of them rarely got to see each other; perhaps once every two months for roughly twenty-four to forty-eight hours at a time. It was enough time to keep in touch with current affairs but hardly what she could have hoped for in a long-term _relationship_.

True, she should've just counted her blessings and knew that it was great to finally be with her childhood sweetheart (as some might call him). There had been a few sporadic attempts at commitment before Ash came back into her life on a regular basis but all of them had flamed out rather lamely over silly things. She might have been too petty once in awhile, or else overly romantic by definition for some of the guys she'd been with. Even worse, the one or two who weren't trainers didn't understand her fascination with Pokemon, let alone her specialty in water-types. Or else there were the ones who _were_ trainers, the ones who would joke about challenging her for a badge and would mutter bitterly to themselves should she happen to beat them in an actual battle.

Ash was the greatest combination of those three major things. He would usually brush off her attempts at zealously urging him into cliché notions, or else would let her go on about water Pokemon for a half-an-hour or so before steering the conversation in the direction of his own career at Indigo League, and the two of them battled once in awhile to keep themselves up to date on each other's skill levels.

So she took what she could get from him and he offered her whatever he could afford to. At the same time, she knew she had to set some boundaries up as well since Ash's life was so helter-skelter that he could rarely find the time to _think_. He was constantly on-call and required to leave at nearly a moment's notice should some event come up that the League thought would appeal with positive press coverage. Much the same thing had led to the two of them reconnecting in the first place.

However Misty wanted no part in that. Her life was busy enough as was considering she was maintaining her gym mostly on her own. She also had trouble staving off the unthinkably aggressive efforts at contact from her own fan club that had come to be as her reputation grew as the fourth and most well-rounded Sensational Sister. Though it did please her a bit to know that the rumors made Ash even the _slightest_ bit jealous. . . _No_. Just _no_. She couldn't go on anymore with him if her name and photo would be plastered all over the front page of every local newspaper this side of the world for months to come.

So they'd compromised. Ash would escape his handler and his responsibilities at the League once every month or two and they'd meet up at his secret haven just outside of Saffron City. It was enough distance away from Cerulean so that nobody made the connection to any of his familial relationships. Neither Ash nor Misty told anyone they were seeing each other - (minus their Pokemon, but hey! Who would they be able to tell?) - and neither did they talk about one another in someone's presence or make any reference to a current companionship between the two.

In the eyes of everyone around them, Ash was simply a distant childhood friend who'd grown apart from Misty over the course of the past ten years, and vice-versa.

"I would say that you're roughly six weeks into your first trimester," her doctor noted almost too absently after glancing up at the redhead from the rest of the file sitting on her desk. "We should immediately start setting up prenatal visits after today. The good news is that you're a very healthy young woman otherwise. No smoking, well-nourished, physically active, rarely drinking - though you'll have to cut that back to _nil_ as well," the woman, a Doctor Annie Marshall, continued with the slightest smile at what she knew most young adults would consider to be a double-edged sword.

But she gave pause when she realized the redhead's hands were shaking rather intensely and that Misty hadn't reacted at all to anything she'd said, still staring blankly at the paper in her hand informing her of the _positive_ results of the tests she'd taken the previous week.

Taking a quick look at the proper title listed on the file, Doctor Marshall twisted back around in her desk chair to face her patient once more, wheeling forward until she was right in front of her.

"M - _Miss_ Waterflower, are you alright?" she asked, hoping to be reassuring if she could.

Misty tried to swallow the lump that had somehow grown three times its original size while sitting in her throat, giving a non-committal shrug in response, even as she attempted to form words to say something more.

"Am I right in guessing that this wasn't a _planned_ happenence?" the professional probed as softly as she could. The signs were all there, after all.

"No, but. . . I mean, we've been together for awhile now. It wasn't a fling or one-night-stand or anything. . . I just. . ." Everything tumbled out as the redheaded young woman tried to collect herself and draw back in the words and tears that were starting to escape. "No, it wasn't something we planned."

Doctor Marshall felt her brow knit tightly together as she considered what her patient had told her. She'd been phrasing everything in past-tense which was a little concerning to say the least. Noting also that there was no _Missus_ attached to the woman's last name and no male present for their appointment, Doctor Marshall asked the only other question that would contribute to her patient's shaken appearance.

"Is the father going to be involved in future visits?"

The strangest thing happened just then. Or rather, perhaps it wasn't strange since - even at six weeks - any woman's hormones would already start to affect her emotional stability. But Misty Waterflower's entire body stilled, her hands clenching into fists as she returned the test results to her doctor and turned a sharp stare on her, eyes alight with a fire they had been far too damp to produce only a few minutes ago.

"Oh, if I have anything to say about it, he _will _be."

**O**o**O**

"So that was my mom," Ash told her after hanging up his cell and tossing it onto the mattress before hopping around as he tried to pull his pants back up. "Her birthday is coming and she wants to meet me to talk in a few days. I haven't seen her in forever so is it alright if I cut out a bit early? I can come back after, I think, as long as nobody reports seeing me and my handler doesn't learn my location," he went on with an egoistic grin.

Oh, the troubles of being such a well-known celebrity.

Misty sighed as she pulled the covers back off of her and rose cautiously into a sitting position, holding back the slight sense of vertigo that threatened to force her back into the comfort of her boyfriend's bed. She placed a hand to her temple and closed her eyes against the flickering sunlight peeking through the blinds right in front of her but all of that wasn't enough to prevent the faintest moan from escaping her.

"Hey. . . you okay?" the raven-haired champion asked her, walking around to her side of the bed and sitting on her right, placing a hand to her back and rubbing affectionately.

Misty held back a scoff at the very thought of how much he'd changed since he'd been a kid.

"I'm fine. I've been feeling a little under the weather for a few days. I was supposed to go see my doctor today actually. You'll need most of the time your mom gave you just to reach Pallet Town so this is probably for the best. Go ahead and see your mom; you owe her at least that much on her birthday," Misty told him as her symptoms receded and she blinked her eyes open again.

"Wow, bad enough to see the doctor, huh? Sure you don't want me to come with you? It's gonna take you a couple hours just to get back home anyway."

"No, Ash, it'll be faster if you start walking to Vermilion City and take the next ferry to Pallet Town. Just getting to Vermilion will cost you the rest of the day, even if you left now. I'll be fine. I mean, if it's anything too serious, I'll tell you when I see you. . . It's probably just the flu anyway."

"Oh, great, and you're telling me this _after_ having felt bad for a few days and _after _we slept together again last night?" he asked as his face fell, though it lit up again at the thought that there really hadn't been too much _sleeping_ going on at all. Still, keeping up the charade, "Jeezus, thanks, Myst. Like I needed to get sick _now _of all times. I mean, I have a challenger battle next week, you know?" he half-heartedly fussed at her though he was clearly still concerned.

"Ash, you idiot! You couldn't get sick even if my flu took on a body of its own and made out with you in front of everyone at Indigo League!" Misty fought back and couldn't help laughing as her boyfriend scrunched up his nose at the thought. "Anyway, you should get a move on. . . And you should probably shower before you go!" she warned him just as he was about to waste more time putting the rest of his clothes on, "There won't be a shower on the ferry after all."

"Good point," he agreed before stripping naked again and making a Beedrill-line for the bathroom. Then, poking his head back out at her, a mischievous smirk playing on his face, he asked, "So. . . do ya wanna join me?"

"Love to," Misty bit at him, taking in his sexual confidence and how different he was now compared to even just one year ago, "but I really should start back home."

"Misty. . ." he murmured softly as he crept back out towards her again, "Look, I know you-"

"-Ash, I already told you, I'll be fine! I can walk home alone, okay?"

"No, it's not that!" he assured her with hands up in defense at her temper, "I was just thinking. . . I mean, I haven't been able to tell me my mom about us, I haven't told her anything. . . I can barely talk to her at all since it's hard for me to keep secrets from her and w - we both know that she can get anything out of me if she tries hard enough."

Misty practically knew what was coming already but let him work out how he wanted to phrase it for himself. She certainly didn't mind watching him sweat.

"Go on."

"Well, like I said, I haven't seen her in so long because of - well, because of _this_ - and I know she's going to want an explanation. . . Don't you think we could tell her, at least? She won't spread the word, I'm sure we can trust her if we just make sure she knows _why_ we haven't said anything before. . . She's my mom, Myst. Plus she loves you like family too. I think she deserves to know."

Misty considered his position, making sure he knew that she was on the fence about the whole thing. It had been her one major rule when the two of them had decided they wanted to get together that neither of them tell anyone for fear that someone would let slip to the wrong person and word would get out. But she also understood that Ash wasn't the greatest liar - even by omittance - and that it was causing him at least some strain in keeping their relationship from his mom of all people.

"Fine, you can tell your mom. . . but make sure she knows _why_ we've kept it quiet like this. I don't want her getting too excited."

He quirked a brow.

"Excited about what?"

Misty bit her lip as she tried to word it delicately. She had her own ideas as to why she was feeling _sick_, though she definitely didn't want to say anything until it was a sure thing. She was already giving her boyfriend a temporary _out_, and didn't want to make it permanent by saying that they may have to add a certain _addition_ to their home.

"You know; just excited about you being with. . . _someone _for the first time."

Ash shrugged and turned back towards the bathroom but not without a quick thanks at her express permission to finally let the Skitty out of the bag. And Misty began to get dressed as well, hoping it really was the _flu _she was feeling after all.

**O**o**O**

As she left the doctor's office off of Cerulean City's Main Street, Misty felt around in her pocket until she found her cellphone, whipping it out and staring at the black screen. Cautiously, as if it alone would seal her fate, she pressed the hold-slash-power button and watched her screensaver and password grid light up.

And she stared. Then she decided she just couldn't do it and put her phone back in her pocket.

She knew that Ash was right in the middle of his breakfast meeting with his mom, Delia, in Pallet Town. Not only would it be unfair of her to interrupt their rare morning together but he would probably reject any call she made anyway because he wouldn't want to detract from the time he and his mom had together.

Misty couldn't really blame him for that. After all, the two of them had been seeing each other exclusively for a year - well, eleven and a half months to be exact - and Ash hadn't seen his mom the whole time, and had barely bothered to talk to her for fear that he would say something she, _Misty_, wouldn't be alright with.

The redhead sighed as she continued walking back towards her home. It wasn't the first time she'd wondered about her decision to keep their relationship a secret. She knew she'd have to relinquish some of her privacy (which was already relatively hard to come by thanks to her profession) but she hadn't noticed until quite recently just what a tough spot that put Ash in. And still she wondered if it was really worth it. She knew that telling her sisters and friends would be enough for word to circulate towards the paparazzi and that she would quickly have to say goodbye to any time alone. However there were also some perks to coming out.

For one, Lily and Violet would stop asking relentlessly if she was actually a lesbian this whole time. For another, she was sure that admitting to being in a long-term committed relationship with champion trainer, Ash Ketchum, would cause her pathetic fan boys to back off somewhat, let alone whatever other pursuers she (as well as Ash) must have attained as their reputations grew over the years. Plus going public would mean they wouldn't have to limit themselves on time together. Rather than meeting hush-hush at Ash's haven outside of Saffron, they could meet up, well, _anywhere_ they pleased and they could hold hands and kiss and interact however they wanted to as long as it was legal.

It sure was a nice thought anyway, she considered darkly as she yanked her cellphone from her pocket and stared at it again. She got as far as keying in her password and causing her home screen to pop up before she scowled and changed her mind, a trace of fear coursing up her spine.

This wasn't just about their secret affair though. This was much more than that.

Another light wave of nausea puckered up from her abdomen and she groaned under her breath before one hand automatically felt at her stomach while the other covered her mouth. She stopped walking and stood against the cobblestone wall of a nearby establishment as the feeling faded before continuing on her way.

She had to tell him. She couldn't do it alone plus he had the right to know and she'd promised she would say so if it happened to be something serious she was _diagnosed _with after her visit with Doctor Marshall. He was the biggest part of this next to her.

So finally, just as she saw the tip of the Seel monument atop her home come into view in the distance, her step faltered once more and she pulled out her cellphone, opening her _Contacts_ menu and beginning to type in Ash's name. When it appeared, she tapped the _call_ symbol and placed the phone to her ear, waiting for it to start ringing.

One thing that should be known was that, since they didn't see each other as often as either of them would like, they instead upped the number of times they talked on the phone. They still had to be rather secretive about it. Misty would never call with her sisters in the same building, knowing they were such gossips and making sure they were at least five hundred feet away minimum before attempting to dial up her boyfriend. Ash, in similar fashion, would neither call nor _accept _a call if anyone else was around and would only do so in the comfort and privacy of his League room, or else if he'd managed to beat her to his hideaway outside of Saffron.

All of that being said, she knew exactly how many rings it took for Ash's phone to transfer her to voicemail. And she heard two-and-a-half rings (instead of the regular five) before it shut down on her.

He was indeed screening her calls.

The redhead found herself torn between frustration, indignation, and acceptance. She had already assumed - _known_ - that Ash would do this. Even if he had told her to contact him after hearing back from the doctor, he was still dealing with his mom's questions and incessant concerns. At the same time she wished that he would just pick up. She really didn't think this was something she could leave in a voicemail to be heard at a later time.

She marched the rest of the way home before trying again though. As she entered through the front door, she heard the sounds of a challenger battle going on inside the gym arena to her right, two voices shouting commands at their Pokemon and recognizing Daisy's voice amongst them.

"Oh, so you really did run off again, huh?" Violet asked her from behind the main desk after she'd finished typing up a maintenance report. "Geez, seriously, Misty. . . You should at least, like, _tell _somebody before you leave the gym! We were counting on you to handle the paperwork today!"

"It's not like I was gone overnight again. Besides, something came up," Misty attempted to say neutrally with a loose shrug but her voice came out sounding strangled and her muscles were too tense to even muster a shake of the head.

"Like, what's wrong with you?" the dark-haired woman asked with a furrowed brow.

"Nothing, feeling a bit sick, gonna go to bed early, I think," Misty managed all in one quick heaving breath as she trampled up the stairs that led to the private home of the four sensational siblings and ran around her other sister, Lily, before even one word could be exchanged between them.

The redheaded water-type specialist slammed her door shut and stood in front of it, eyes bracing themselves in the semi-darkness of her bedroom as she waited to hear any speculation or conversation between her family from out in the hall. Then, after there had been no verbal exchange that she could make out from where she was, she forced her legs to solidify completely so that she could walk the seven foot distance to her bed.

Jeezus, what was she supposed to do now?

Hesitantly she pulled her phone out of her pocket once more and stared at it for a second before unlocking it again. No missed calls or texts. Ash didn't seem to be in any hurry to get back to her. Then again, she hadn't bothered to leave a voicemail so he probably didn't think it was all that important.

_Little does he know_, Misty thought bitterly.

But she had to tell him eventually anyway. He would have his questions surely but she had been sexually active long enough to know that even the most effective birth control couldn't prevent pregnancy one hundred percent of the time. She could only hope to convince him to hear her out and then to talk out their options together, right?

So she pulled up his contact information one more time and pressed the _call_ icon and waited out the dialing once more. It was the same as before; there were two or so rings and then she was sent to his voicemail.

_You would think he'd get it through his head that I really need to talk to him if I'm calling him twice in twenty minutes_, Misty thought as her brow twitched irritably as she heard his voice telling her that he was unavailable and to leave a quick message with details so that he could call her back. Just as the beep was about to sound so that she could start verbally harassing him to pick up his phone, there came a knock at her bedroom door.

Misty panicked and hung up the call before she could say anything at all and went to answer whoever was calling for her.

"Hey, little sis!" Daisy greeted with her carefree nature and a slight wave of a hand, "Lily and Violet said you didn't look too well when you came back home so I was coming to check on you."

Before the redhead could think of a response, her oldest sister slipped into her room and walked straight around her to sit at the desk beside her bed.

"I'm fine. It's just the flu. I wasn't feeling well but I went and saw the doctor today and she said I just need a couple days to get back to normal."

_A couple days. . . Yeah, right._

"Hm. . ." The oldest Sensational Sister hummed to herself as she stared her youngest sibling up and down. She knew something was off about the young woman but couldn't put her finger on it. Misty had become quite adept at sneaking out of the gym whenever she was alone or in the dead of night and even better at keeping secrets from her family about where she had been spending the time between her leave-date and her return home.

Still, looking at her slightly green features and the discomfort clearly evident on her face, it was clear that she was telling the truth about not feeling well.

Then Daisy turned and glanced at the bed and saw the cellphone laying there. She picked it up and Misty held her breath. Luckily the phone had blacked out after a minute of no usage and, since doing so, had relocked once more. That meant her older sister couldn't snoop and see who it was she'd been trying to contact.

"Were you, like, calling someone? Must be important since you're trying to reach them when you're sick," the blond woman smiled knowingly before tossing the device back onto the mattress again and watching her youngest sister for a reaction.

And, boy, did she get one.

Misty jumped, almost imperceptively, but with her eyes on the lookout for such signs, Daisy caught it. And not only that, the green tinge to the redhead's pale cheeks only flushed worse and her gaze averted to the ground again to avoid having to look straight at her as her fists clenched at her sides helplessly.

Daisy rose from the desk chair she'd been sitting at and walked back towards her sister, clapping a hand to the girl's shoulder in assurance before turning a slightly concerned gaze on her face and raising a cool hand to feel for a fever.

"You don't seem hot but, like, what do I know?" Then, with a soft grin, she walked around her sister to stand by the door again. "Look, we were thinking we could totally shut down the gym and go out for lunch together but I can, like, see you're not up for it. Still, we'll close up since it wouldn't be very creditable towards our reputation if you passed out and drowned because you, like, took up a challenge while you were sick.

"You know, little sis; even if you can't reach your boyfriend, you can always totally talk to me!"

And then Daisy was gone, leaving Misty flushed and _ashamed_ as she stood alone in her room again. Her sisters were gossips, she knew. It was why she had never bothered to tell even _them _about her relationship with Ash. . . though she couldn't avoid it for much longer. They were her sisters all the same and keeping things from family had never proved to be a good idea. The fact that Daisy had figured out (even generally) who Misty was likely to call while apparently ill was enough for the redhead to know that she needed to get over her worries about privacy.

She moaned as she staggered towards her bed once more, falling forward and laying there for a moment before her eyes shot open at another strong surge of vertigo and she flew into the bathroom to worship the porcelain god (as it was so eloquently put by many other people).

Afterwards, she stood up and cringed, taking in the sight before her and flushing almost immediately after. Great. Now the symptoms were starting to get worse.

She ran back to her bed for the last time and leapt onto it, grappling for her phone and unlocking it to reveal the contacts screen she'd been on before being interrupted by her sister before. Begging on the inside even as the frustration began to gnaw at her limbs, she pressed to dial Ash's number.

For the third time that day, she was greeted with the sound of two rings before being cut off by the beginning of his voicemail. A strangled sound escaped from the back of her throat and she sat up in bed again before ending the call and redialing. This time, somehow far worse than before, there was no ringing at all.

Ash had turned his phone off.

Breathing deeply through her nose to relax the tension and aching of her body, Misty pulled herself completely onto the mattress and leaned her head against the wall on the other side of the bed, eyes closed. Then she slowly opened them back up and took in the pristine order and cleanliness of her room, the tranquility that the quiet of the second floor, and the semi-darkness from her closed blinds before closing her eyes once more and leaving that way for roughly forty-five seconds as she tried to calm herself down.

She was pregnant. Ash didn't know. She was pregnant and trying to _tell_ Ash. Ash didn't know and was ignoring her. She was pregnant, trying to tell Ash, and praying from the bottom of her heart that his reaction would be a positive one. Ash didn't know, was ignoring her, and had never even once discussed the possibility of children with her over the course of their entire relationship, least of all the growth that had taken place between them during the past year.

_Be reasonable_, she reminded herself, _It's not like he's ignoring you for nothing. He's seeing his mom for the first time in a year. This is an important day for both of them._

But the fears nipping and gnawing at her consciousness told her that she had to do something about it. She couldn't do anything like this on her own and she couldn't even begin to explain to her sisters about what had happened. Breathing seemed suddenly difficult and she had to force her thoughts to stop spiraling out of control as she attempted to prevent the start of what was probably a panic attack. That certainly wouldn't be good for her unborn child now, would it?

How had this happened? Well, sure, she knew scientifically how, and even the general probability that it could one day happen to the two of them. But she and Ash had barely been together for a year and she had had sex for at least a few years before that without ever facing such _consequences_. How could she explain to him what was coming? How could she believe that he would be understanding - nay, _accepting_ - when she told him what they were going to have to endure?

What would she do if he said he didn't want children? What if he told her to get rid of it?

A strange instinct overcame her as she placed both hands over her tummy again. Flat though it obviously still was, within she could somehow sense the life that was growing, the heart that was beating. This was _their _child. Even if Ash said he couldn't deal with such a thing right now, she couldn't let him just take it from her, could she?

Though it was haphazard and farfetched, Misty couldn't help it as her thoughts continued onward in a negative fashion.

What if Ash _did_ say no? What if he left her on her own? What would she do when word spread that she was pregnant with no present dad in the picture? Would she order some sort of paternity test to prove his involvement? How could she even get approval for such a thing when the two of them had kept their entire relationship under wraps before today?

Doctor Marshall's words hung before her tantalizingly as well as her own response.

"Is the father going to be involved in future visits?"

"Oh, if I have anything to say about it, he _will _be."

She felt her brow furrow and clenched her jaw as she ground her teeth. She would not be alone in this. Even if she had to force it from him, Ash would be a part of his child's life. This was their responsibility! And more than that, this was. . .

"This is all his fault!" she cried out furiously as she dove for her phone again. Ooh, he would pay dearly for making her endure this alone! She would see to it that he paid her for every inconvenience, every anxiety, every hope she'd eventually had about the two of them that had been shaken by the internal strife that was the possibility of having children before they were mentally prepared to be parents.

Once more, she dialed his number and waited through the voicemail that immediately began to play since his phone was probably still turned off. And when the high-pitched beep was heard at the end, she gnashed her teeth together before starting to tell him off.

"Ash, you idiot! Turn your phone back on right now or I'll. . . I'll," she had to pause to brace herself against a fresh wave of frustrated and bedraggled tears, "This is serious! Answer me!" she continued to wail helplessly before gasping for breath through her mouth in compensation for the temporary congestion in her nose that usually accompanied crying.

She ended the call there since she was unable to continue speaking without having to pace her own breathing continuously throughout doing so and reverted to texting instead, her mind under the impression that, even with his phone off, Ash would somehow still receive the messages.

**Ash, stop ignoring me! Turn your phone on! I **_will _**kill you, dammit!**

**Why won't you answer? Don't you know what you did to me?!**

**You motherfucker, I will cut your balls off!**

_You _**did this so **_you _**have to take responsibility! This is your fault! We're pregnant because of you!**

True to her stubborn, childish demeanor, Misty couldn't help placing the blame during crunch time. Plus Ash had always been such an easy target for such things. No wonder Pikachu always electrocuted him, as well as Charizard toasting him up. He was clearly a magnet for misplaced aggression.

She dropped her phone beside her to give herself an extra moment to pull herself together after that emotional onslaught. As minutes crawled by and she felt her intense temper begin to simmer down, she thought back on everything she'd said to him over the course of the past twenty minutes, all of which were not the things she had originally _wanted_ to say to him.

Some semblance of hopelessness settled in the pit of her stomach and left her feeling defeated. Even if she'd been able to reach him now she'd probably still end up accusing him of something he really had no control over. Then he would get angry at her and the two of them would end up bickering about something completely unrelated to their current crisis. And, worst of all, she had already instigated the possibility of a negative reaction from him by calling him names and making threats.

Oh, boy. Perhaps it was time for some damage control.

It was just then that she realized she'd had another way of reaching him all along but had completely forgotten. It was a rarely used contact, even more-so nowadays when the redhead thought about how she couldn't bear lying to the woman who'd taken her in like a daughter over the years, but in this situation she was willing to risk it.

So she tentatively picked up her cellphone again, unlocked it, scrolled through her other contacts, and pressed the one entitled _Delia Ketchum_ before selecting the _call _icon for the fifth time that morning.

Her hand unconsciously gripped her bare leg as she lay curled up on her bed against the wall in her room, rubbing up and down her flesh as goose bumps began to appear. Then, four rings later, she heard the strangest voice from the other end of the line.

"Mime! Mr. Mime?"

Misty scowled, remembering one of the other few reasons she had stopped contacting Delia regularly. The older woman had left taking calls and messages up to her psychic housekeeper Pokemon and, well, it wasn't nearly as genius a tactic as anyone would think.

"Wha. . . ? Uh, i - is Ash there? If so, can I speak with him?"

"Mime mime Mr. Mime mime mime!" the Pokémon practically screeched in her ear and she could imagine him waving his arms emphatically as though trying to make a more valid point, even if she couldn't see it.

"I don't under. . . _Look_, this is really important, alright?" she asked cautiously as the last vestiges of her patience wore thin and she enunciated her words to ensure she had his attention. "I. Need. To. Talk. To. Ash. Is he there?"

Mimey continued to repeat his own name for the next two minutes, as if it were doing any good helping her understand what he was trying to say and Misty felt something inside her snap. Giving in to such inhibitions, she pulled the phone away from her ear long enough to activate the video-cam and waited until she saw the mime Pokemon staring back at her rather vacantly.

"Look here, you extraneous excuse for a clown!" she shouted at him in fury, "I don't care what it is you think you're doing or what you're protecting or whatever! You get him over to this phone _now _or I will personally be overseeing your job transfer!"

Mr. Mime heeded her words and ran straight out of sight, screeching the entire time. Less than sixty seconds later, a befuddled Ash came into view, shaking his head and scratching his scalp at the Pokemon's oddly aggressive behavior. Then he finally looked at the monitor to his mom's house phone and saw his girlfriend staring back at him.

"Oh, uh, Misty. . . Why are you calling? This really isn't a very good time for-"

"-Ash. Sit down." she told him rather frankly and he was compelled to do exactly as she'd said thanks to her tone. "Listen, we have to talk. I mean, something - something _big_ has happened and I had to tell you as soon as possible and _why _did you turn your cellphone off anyway when I've been trying to reach you for the past two hours because this is really important and it involves both of us no matter how you try to get out of it and you have to know that-"

"-Misty, whoa! Slow the heck down, would ya? I could barely make out any of that you were just saying. . ." he shushed her rambling and she pressed her lips tightly shut, telling herself she couldn't hold it against him and that she was acting outrageously. "Now, what are you trying to say?"

"I - I just. . . I thought I might be wrong so I couldn't tell you before but i - it turns out I was actually right and I needed to tell you because we're going to have to talk about it and make some changes and th - this is _big_, Ash, like I already said. . . and. . ." But she faltered, somehow finding that now that she had his attention, she couldn't figure out how to break it to him.

Thankfully he decided to make his own assumptions as a means of giving her time.

"Oh no, you're not going to take back your permission, are you?" he asked.

"P - permission to do what?"

"To tell my mom about us!" And his eyes widened as if this really would make or break his morning. "You don't understand, Myst! Mom's been grilling me for over an hour about. . . about _stuff_ and she won't even let me get a word in but I know the second she does I'm gonna have to tell her because she just won't let anything go and telling her would actually fix _everything_! So you can't! There are no take-backs on this one, Myst!"

"Wha. . . ? No! This has nothing to do with that! Or, well, maybe it sort of does. Believe me, Ash, once I tell you what's up you're going to have no choice _but _to tell your mom about us."

Of all things he had been expecting, that response wasn't it. What in the world had changed Misty's views so vastly over the course of the past few days? He'd barely convinced her to give her blessing in originally telling his mom about their relationship and now she was pushing him to do so without a doubt.

"So what is it?" he asked courageously, watching his girlfriend's gaze flicker to her left, then right, then down.

"This is the hardest thing I've ever had to tell you," she barely managed to whisper, looking rather terrorized.

"You - you're not breaking up with me, are you?" he, himself, flinched at the very idea. He hadn't even gotten the chance to explain everything to his mom and the redhead was going to end it like this? Over the phone?

"Where on earth did you even get that from?" Misty asked with a distractingly raised eyebrow before she shook herself out of it and tried to refocus. "I love you, you idiot! Why would I break up with you?"

"Well, I love you too, scrawny!" he retorted immaturely, "So then what is it you're freaking out about?"

"It's. . ."

"Did someone see us leaving my place? I thought I gave you enough time for a proper head start but I must not have. . ."

"No, it's not that. It's. . ."

"It isn't your sisters again, is it? Did they try and set you up with another one of those girls from their fan charter?"

"_No_!" Misty screeched, finally fed up with his presumptions. "Ash, I'm pregnant!"

What met her after this confession was the exact same stark silence she had been fearing the whole time her mind had been whirling around in the privacy of her own bedroom, musing up all the ways this entire thing could go South.

She closed her eyes and drew in a sharp breath. That wasn't how she'd meant for it to come out but he'd really given her no other option but to just _say it_ before he went on with other possible reasons for her random call.

Ash, who'd had ended up on his feet while running through the list of things he'd thought she'd say, felt his legs give way and he fell into the seat that, thankfully, happened to be available for those who were making longer video-calls on his mom's house phone. And then he stared at his girlfriend as if waiting for her to take it all back.

"You're. . . come again?" he asked.

"I. . . _we're_ pregnant," she repeated with a slight alteration. The new attachment to her statement seemed to shake him up even more as he leaned forward, one arm on the table in front of the monitor and the hand attached ruffling through his hair as if itching for a way out.

Which was probably what he was looking for anyway.

"How?" he finally found the strength to ask.

Misty shrugged off the question. It was hardly important when compared to the grand scheme of things.

"It just. . . happened. I've been taking my birth control but, you know, sometimes these things just. . . Nothing is one hundred percent effective," she attempted to explain.

"No, I guess. . . but. . ." Words were hard to come by so Ash decided against them for the following few seconds. Then, finally, he went on. "How long?"

"Six weeks. . . It must have happened the last time we were together, the one before your mom got in contact with you."

Ash grunted but didn't immediately respond. He seemed to be trying to work out a solution to everything in his head though clearly there was no way around it.

"What are you thinking?" she asked in a hushed tone.

". . . Don't know."

"Are you scared?"

"Hell yeah, I am, Myst! We never planned for this! We never even. . . we never brought it up even once! Why didn't we? We both knew it was possible, didn't we? You're the smart one here too! Why didn't you ever force me to talk about this kinda thing?" he begged of her in such a way that she couldn't even respond to his accusation.

"Because I didn't think too much about it either. I mean, we were practicing _safe sex_, Ash. We used protection, I was on the pill, and we never did it so frequently that something would manage to, you know, _slip through_." Then, under her breath, "Or so I thought.

"But here we are and it's happened and I. . . I can't be the only one who knows. I can't do it on my own, Ash. I really. . ." she gulped back the dread that had been crippling and molding her emotions all day before continuing, "I really need you to be here with me through this."

"I have to go."

"What? But Ash!"

"No, Myst, it's not that. . . I was just. . . it was a really important talk with my mom and she's waiting for me to get back and explain. . . things. I promise we'll talk about it later."

His words were enough reassurance for her to drop the subject and bid him farewell.

He was still planning on explaining _things _to his mom. That meant he'd be telling her about their relationship which meant he wasn't going to leave her, Misty, alone. That would have to do for now.

Misty sighed before falling sideways towards the cool fluffiness of her pillows and curling up into herself even tighter than before when she'd been sitting. The first battle was over and they'd come out relatively unscathed. There was still plenty to discuss between them but she knew that they'd be fine if they did their best to compromise and contribute to the situation.

And she couldn't help imagining it somewhere in the back of her head. Her sisters were sure to be the aunts from Hell, but they would never reject her for having a child out of wedlock, especially if Ash and she remained together in the future. . . which actually sounded like a possibility at this point, irrational suspicions be damned. And Delia, oh Delia. . . She was a saint amongst everyone Misty had ever met. She would surely be ecstatic at the thought of being a grandmother, the redhead knew for sure.

Over all, her support system could have been a _lot _worse.

Still, and her brow furrowed at the thought, surely Ash was at least the tiniest bit troubled over her proclamation a few minutes ago on the phone. She'd at least had a couple of hours to get used to it and now he was due to face those same two hours. At least he wasn't alone. Perhaps he would even tell his mom after explaining to the woman about their relationship.

Then she thought back to how contentious she'd been in her text messages and that voicemail almost an hour ago. If he were to only have those things to reflect on when thinking further about their situation, he would probably give pause to visiting her immediately after. The least supportive one in all of this may have indeed been Misty_, _herself.

Deciding to do something about that, she fumbled around in her bed to find her phone one last time and unlocked it, accessing her text message menu. His name was still the most recent one of them all, of course, so she pressed to open their conversation and took in the sight of her many aggressive messages to him earlier that morning with reluctance and guilt nibbling at her conscience.

What could she say to comfort him now of all times? He had to know that she loved him; at the very least, they'd just reiterated those words over the phone a few minutes ago. . . No, he needed something more than that, something that would put him at ease towards everything they were going to have to face.

_They_. She hoped and prayed that the keyword would remain throughout everything that would soon come at them. Then she blinked as it hit her and she began typing rapidly on the screen before pressing send, wondering if he'd turned his phone back on, or how long it would take him to see what she'd sent. And at the same time she doubted the validity of her own words. Not that they weren't honest, of course, but. . . would they be enough to console him?

She waited just long enough to read the timestamp on the message and then, knowing it had been sent off successfully, she locked her phone again and twisted around to connect it to her charger before laying on her back and facing the ceiling, willing her eyes closed and her temperament calm until she could find something less stressful to think about.

_We can handle this together, Mr. Pokemon Master._

**O**o**O**o**O**

**Notes** - Yay, it's finally, really over! Or is it. . . ? ((shot)) I guess I really shouldn't pull the same stunt two chapters in a row, but seriously, you guys seriously spurred me on into writing this all in one sitting and, now that it's done, I could totally see the conversation that would take place between Ash and Misty when they meet up again. It would be great! Misty would have the hedge clippers and Ash would have to drop his pants so she could. . . Oh, haha, that's wrong! Sorry, I take that back! She wouldn't do _that_ to him! I don't think. . .


End file.
